- The Prestige
lucasthegray- October 20th, 2006
chipper
I'm going to have to give this movie a positive review. No one told me there was Tesla in the movie. And no one went on to tell me that David Bowie played Tesla in the movie. Both of these are things that would have made me want to see it even more. It's a seriously good movie. I'd see it again, even at full price.
so awesome. though in my head the two magicians realize they love each other at the end of the movie and live happily ever after.
i also enjoyed the film.
i would go one step further, however, and assert that the tesla/tesla-apparatus subplot actually saves the storyline -- the, er, fallon thing is so badly telegraphed via sloppy cinematography, bad frame-cuts, and awfully heavy-handed dialogue that it becomes obvious halfway through the movie (if not earlier), and all of the second half's supposedly-clever insinuations and deep meaningful double-entendres are wasted.
i found myself sitting through the last 35-45 min rolling my eyes thinking "gawd, m. night shymalan you are *not*, half the audience has already figured it out, quit with the smarmy hints and get on to the reveal" -- only to discover that, in the time-honored tradition of many stage magicians, yet another reveal was cleverly hidden beneath the now-tedious-and-overdue reveal.
probably my favorite line in the film is "put it down in the basement with the rest of the prestige materials." unspeakably sinister. also, though i'm not normally a jackman fan, he gives a strong/above-average performance in this outing.
-- sven